Case Studies

Employer Services Case Studies

WSP|Parsons Brinckerhoff

Company Facts

WSP and Parsons Brinckerhoff have combined and are now one of the world's leading engineering professional services consulting firms. They provide services to transform the built environment and restore the natural environment, and their expertise ranges from environmental remediation to urban planning, from engineering iconic buildings to designing sustainable transport networks, and from developing the energy sources of the future to enabling new ways of extracting essential resources.

They have approximately 32,000 employees, including engineers, technicians, scientists, architects, planners, surveyors, program and construction management professionals, and various environmental experts.

Leeds College of Building are committed to the delivery of apprenticeships which are now a key route in to careers at WSP|Parsons Brinckerhoff. The lecturers delivering these apprenticeships are not all from academic backgrounds. This provides student with a resource that has a wide range of work based knowledge and experiences, allowing students to understand the practical application of the syllabus.

Do you recruit apprentices? (If so how many, what role do they play?)

Yes, Apprenticeships form a key part of our UK strategy and our vision to become the best local and global professional services consultancy and we recognise that we need a strong and diverse workforce to deliver on the challenges our society will face in the future.

WSP|Parsons Brinckerhoff recruits approx. 35-40 apprentices each year; they are permanent employees, which means an apprenticeship is just the start of their career in engineering. Apprentices contribute from day one working on a diverse range of exciting projects.

What are the benefits to your company of employing apprentices?

It is vital that we attract enough young people to work in our profession to deliver on the challenges of tomorrow. Apprenticeships provide another route for those that do not wish to attend university and this means we can attract a more diverse pool of candidates into engineering career routes.

Our apprentices have proven themselves to be keen and eager to learn about the industry and committed to work. They provide real value to the business through on the job training and learning via the college and rapidly become key resources as part of project delivery teams.

How do you rate the service LCB provide:

From an employer/HR point of view LCB have been by far the best provider we have worked with. Their specialist knowledge in construction and related areas means they understand our challenges and properly support our apprentices. There is a genuine passion for getting the most from the students we send to LCB. The teaching and support is of good quality.